Bloodthirsty Liberal

In the august history of American oratory—from “A house divided against itself cannot stand” to “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold”—no utterance shall surpass:

“Why don’t you mind your own goddamned business?”

Our intrepid Hot Air TV special correspondent Jason Mattera is back on Capitol Hill!

…

This time he catches tax cheat Charlie Rangel and confronts him about his mounting ethical and financial scandals.

Charlie Rangel’s message for Jason - and for all you bothersome taxpayers wondering about his shady rental property deals, publicly-subsidized Cadillac, and unpaid taxes:

“Why don’t you mind your goddamned business?”

With crooks like him minding ours, I’d expect to see widescreen TVs heading out the back door of the House. They’ll fit in his Caddy!

UPDATE
Rangel-mania is catching!

[Language Alert!]

While the sitcom that is Chicago politics continues to generate belly laughs, the spin-off set in Washington is a real downer:

The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

Blagojevich’s administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state’s housing authority Sept. 10 — about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house.

A spokeswoman for the Illinois Housing Development Authority indicated Wednesday there was nothing improper about Burris II’s employment by the agency, whose mission includes overseeing mortgage programs for low-income home buyers and anti-foreclosure initiatives.

Burris II’s hiring, however, raises more questions about Sen. Burris’ interactions with Blagojevich and his inner circle at a time when the governor was soliciting Sen. Burris for campaign contributions and Burris was angling to have Blagojevich appoint him to the Senate seat once held by President Obama.

Burris II: The Son Also Slices.

I laughed as loudly as anyone at the pilot episode, but my mirth is passing. Hopes that the stench of sleaze would follow Obama to Washington have not come to pass. We may eventually learn what we already suspect (know, really): namely that Obama, Emanuel, Axelrod, and many more talked plenty to Blago about the senate seat and lied about it. It’s a much simpler explanation than anything they’ve come up with.

But it will be too late. About two or three trillion dollars too late. About socialized medicine too late. About the re-institution of welfare too late. About appeasing Islamic madmen and selling out Israel too late. About silencing dissent too late.

Credit Obama (or his Karl Rove, David Axelrod) for knowing that:

There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.

They took it at the flood, and the rest of us are drowning.

It used to be the stockyards and the slaughterhouses that stunk to high heaven.

Now it’s City Hall (Okay, techincally, maybe that should read Springfield and the State House—but give me that liberty.):

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother solicited U.S. Sen. Roland Burris for up to $10,000 in campaign cash before Blagojevich named Burris to the coveted post — something Burris initially failed to disclose under oath before an Illinois House impeachment panel, records and interviews show.

Burris acknowledges being hit up for the money in a new affidavit he has sent to the head of the House committee that recommended Blagojevich be removed from office.

The affidavit is dated Feb. 5 — three weeks after Burris was sworn in to replace President Obama in the Senate.

…

Three weeks after taking office in the US Senate, Burris suddenly discovered that his previous affadavit and testimony were “incomplete”. On January 5th, Burris submitted a sworn statement to the Illinois House panel investigating Blagojevich that he had no contacts at all with the now-removed governor before his appointment in late December. When he testified at the end of January, he amended that to include two other contacts with former Blagojevich aides Lon Monk and John Harris — but he never mentioned Blagojevich’s brother demanding a payment.

There is no possibility that Burris simply “forgot” about such a demand. In the first place, that’s exactly what the House was investigating, a pay-for-play arrangement for the open Senate seat. In fact, one has to question why Burris himself didn’t report such a blatantly corrupt demand to state or federal authorities. He never paid the money, but the demand itself is explicitly illegal, and as a state lawmaker Burris had a higher responsibility than most to report the attempt.

I was all for seating Burris because I thought that would cause maximum embarrassment to Obama. Little did I know he’d be the gift that kept on giving (except for that ten grand Blago was looking for).

Now, I think he should be kicked out for lying to the very Congress he only recently joined. And for the very same reason: crooked politicians associated with Barack Obama can’t get enough publicity. And if they are black, and their persecutors are white, so much the better to embarrass the Democrats.

I would rather Reid and Pelosi were skewered on their merits (or very glaring lack of same), but if I have to settle for racial animosity and rank corruption, I suppose I’ll just have to live with it.

PS: And it looks like Lady Blago has problems of her own.

Today President, tomorrow Caesar:

House Republicans are incensed about the prospect of the Census Bureau director reporting directly to the White House.

A senior White House official said the Obama administration intends to circumvent Commerce Secretary nominee Judd Gregg to assuage black and Hispanic leaders who had raised concerns about the New Hampshire Republican’s commitment to core functions of the department.

But that plan has produced hot-under-the-collar reactions from two leading Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. They see it as an effort by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to seize power over the politically delicate issue of counting Americans.

“Any attempt by the Obama administration to circumvent the census process for their political benefit will be met with fierce opposition as this ill-conceived proposal undermines a constitutionally obligated process that speaks to the very heart of our democracy,” said California Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the committee.

Issa and North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the subcommittee that oversees census issues, sent a letter to President Obama detailing their concern that such a move might circumvent existing law and be used for partisan gain.

“Requiring the census director to report directly to the White House and placing responsibility for administration of the Bureau outside the Department of Commerce may even violate federal law,” they wrote. “According to Title 13 of the U.S. Code, the Bureau is to be administered ‘within, and under the jurisdiction of, the Department of Commerce.’ According to U.S. Code, the Executive Branch is limited to providing support for the Bureau in the form of information and resources.”

And what could be more “supportive” than having the president’s chief of staff counting heads? What’s the matter? You don’t trust the Chicago Democratic machine when it comes to counting?

It’s sinister, no question, but it’s also just dumbass.

Obama though he could be clever by picking a RINO Republican to join his cabinet (coincidentally undermining the razor-thin margin of filibuster), until the special interests in his party hollered like hell that a Republican would ignore their phantom numbers. So he has to resort to a naked political grab, and, very likely, an illegal one.

But we conservatives can’t have it both ways. He’s either dumb or he’s very, very smart. Everything he’s done since coming to power has had the ultimate goal of cementing forever the Democratic majority.

If they’re give away the store, why buy a flat-screen TV when you can loot one?

You’ll have to forgive Chicagoans if they’re a little confused about how to deal with corrupt politicians. They usually just re-elect them.

Thank goodness there’s a judiciary that’s done its homework:

With the Illinois Supreme Court rejecting an effort to oust Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a legislative panel considering impeachment prepared to examine whether he abused his power, despite challenges from the Democrat’s lawyer.

…

The Illinois House impeachment committee faces even more pressure now that the state’s highest court has blocked an attempt to declare the two-term governor unfit to serve because of his legal and political troubles.

…

Attorney General Lisa Madigan had argued that Blagojevich’s problems amount to a disability, so Blagojevich should have been stripped of his authority temporarily just as if he were physically incapacitated.

The court rejected her challenge without comment. Madigan, a contender for governor in 2010, said she was disappointed by the ruling and urged the impeachment committee to act quickly.

The court’s decision renewed calls from Republicans for a special election to choose Obama’s successor in the Senate. They argue that neither Blagojevich nor Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn _ who would take over if Blagojevich goes _ should be allowed to make the appointment.

There are approved ways of removing a governor, and Illinois will just have to employ them. Trying to garrote him in a dark alley isn’t one of them.

That this will lead to maximum embarrassment for the Democrats—not least the Messiah Elect—is an unexpected, but wholly welcome, benefit.

What do you use to kill a snake but a rat (technically a mongoose, but they’re related…distantly)

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who was cited in a criminal complaint against Rod Blagojevich, went to the U.S. Attorney’s office about alleged wrongdoers, including the Illinois governor, a Jackson spokesman said Tuesday.

Jackson rejected being labeled with the term “informant” in a message to CNN contributor Roland Martin.

Spokesman Edmonds described Jackson’s interaction with federal authorities this way: “As a responsible citizen and elected official, Congressman Jackson has in the past provided information to federal authorities regarding his personal knowledge of perceived corruption and governmental misconduct.

“This was completely unrelated to the current investigation regarding the U.S. Senate appointment. And it is absolutely inaccurate to describe the congressman as an informant,” Edmonds said in a written statement.

Okay, how about stoolie? Or tattler? Or squealer? Or backstabber? Or snitch?

But well done, Jesse, if unexpected. So when are you going to, uh, “provide information” about perceived corruption and misconduct a bit closer to home? How do you think daddy makes a living?

Rezko’s singing, Jackson’s squealing, Obama’s schvitzing. Is this a great country, or what?

Oh come on. We should have heard about this months ago.

“To lose one thousand dollars, Mr. Obama, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose one hundred large looks like carelessness.”

A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Englewood that then-state Sen. Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general amid new questions, prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports, about whether the money might have been misspent.

The garden was never built. And now state records obtained by the Sun-Times show $65,000 of the grant money went to the wife of Kenny B. Smith, the Obama 2000 congressional campaign volunteer who heads the Chicago Better Housing Association, which was in charge of the project for the blighted South Side neighborhood.

One hundred thousand dollars for a garden? Wasn’t that enough of a clue? This was the South Side of Chicago, not [bleeping] Sissinghurst Castle.

He’s not only an empty suit, he’s an empty cheap suit. With cheap-ass patches on the elbows and cigarette burns on the lapels and the inner thighs worn near clean through.

Barhack Obama: Mange you can believe in.

I couldn’t agree more

Ms. Palin is the 43-year old Republican Governor of Alaska, who fluctuates between a 70% and 90% approval rating among her constituents. She is a conservative Christian who has a reputation for fighting corruption and eschewing the traditional perks of her job (like selling the Governor’s jet to save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year). She was a member of Feminists For Life, an organization which supports reducing abortions by offering women better financial resources and educational opportunities. Showing her commitment to this issue, she refused to abort her fifth child, even though she knew he had Downs Syndrome. She supports the teaching of creationism in schools, but only if it is alongside evolution. Her first veto helped gays and lesbians gain civil rights in her state. She also has a son going to Iraq. In her acceptance speech yesterday, she thanked Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton for making it possible for her to be there, next to Senator McCain.

Here’s what this pick is telling me:

1. McCain is experienced enough to be President.
2. McCain is still maverick enough to do something completely unexpected, and moderate enough to pick a person who is liked by Democrats as well as Republicans.
3. McCain’s weakest point is his support in the GOP base, which is heavily anti-abortion and evangelical Christian.
4. McCain acknowledges the nauseating sexism unleashed on Democratic women this year, and shows that the GOP does not feel the same way about teh Scary Vagina. This is what I’m now calling The PUMA Effect.

In other words, the PUMAs are saying: We don’t agree on everything but this is acceptable. Better still, it isn’t corrupt, misogynistic, or bullying. In life, it is necessary to compromise, but it is not necessary to be a doormat.

- Aggie